Chanukah Holiday Spreads Light in Hebron

Happy Chanukah! Every weekday evening there will be special candle lighting ceremony at the Cave of the Patriarchs. The public is invited, sufganiot [donuts] and other treats will be served!

First candle
Sunday 24th of Kislev / December 2, 2018 

 

4:40pm – Mr. Eliahu Liebman, head of the Kiryat Arba local council, with the 

participation of rabbis and students of the Nir Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba

7:00pm – In the central courtyard – IDF Col. Itamar Ben Haim, commander of the 

Judea Brigade, attended by students of the Gvanim State School in Kiryat Arba.

 

Second Candle
Monday, 25th of Kislev / December 3, 2018

 

4:40 – David Wilder, veteran spokesman and long-time resident of Hebron

5:00 – In the central courtyard – Chief Superintendent Aviad Shefti, Commander of the Border Police Battalion of the Tomb of Machpela, with the participation of the fighters and commanders of the battalion

Third candle
Tuesday 26th of Kislev / December 4, 2018

4:40pm – Pesach Pinczewski, head gardener of the Cave of the Patriarchs courtyards and pergola

5:45 – Rabbi David Lau, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, with the participation of the Commander of the Judea Brigade, Col. Itamar Ben Haim, rabbis and students of Shavei Hevron Yeshiva. At the end of the candle lighting a procession of singing and dancing for the inauguration of a new Torah scroll will commence to the Shavei Hevron Yeshiva at Beit Romano. The Torah is being dedicated in memory of  Lt. David Golovensitz Golani’s 12th Battalion, a natiev of Efrat and a student from the Shavei Hevron yeshiva.

Fourth Candle
Wednesday 27th of Kislev / December 5, 2018

 

4:40pm – Eliezer Afarsemon, one of the veteran residents of Hebron
4:30pm – in the central courtyard – Commander Morris Chen, Commander of the Hebron District of the Israel Police, with the participation of the officers and local law enforcement officers

Fifth Candle
Thursday, 28th of Kislev / December 6, 2018 

 

4:40pm – Rabbi Hanoch Kahana, Rabbi of the Or Menachem Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba 

Eighth Candle
Sunday, 1st of Tevet / December 9, 2018 

4:40pm – Rabbi Yisroel Hirschensohn, head of the Beit Din for Mimunim and head of  “Or Hebron”
5:00pm – In the central courtyard – Lt. Col. Moshe Tetro, Ramat Hasharon, with the participation of officers and soldiers
7:45pm – In the central courtyard – Chabad of Hebron and the “convoy of light”

 

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During the Chanukah holiday, Ofir Akunis, Israel’s Minister of Science, visited the Tomb of Machpela and otherv historic sites in the city. Minister Akunis commented on how the Maccabees fought in the Hebron area for the freedom of the Jewish nation so many generations ago. He pledged support for the new Hezekiah neighborhood next to Beit Romano and called upon all people to visit the city. He also met with students from the Kol Ami Preparatory Course.

 

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Hebron was the site of a decisive battle during the rebellion of the Hasmoneans against the invading Seleucid Empire. The story of Hanukkah in which the heroic Maccabees fought to reclaim the Temple from the imperialist Antiochus is well known.

Hebron’s role in the Maccabean Revolt is mentioned in the apocryphal Book of the Maccabees and in the works of the great historian Josephus.

Many of the Hasmonean battles took place in the Mount Hebron region, known today as the Hebron Hills, or Har Hevron regional council. Communities such as Beit Tzur were sites of fierce battles won by the Judean rebels.

I Maccabees 5:65  states:
“Afterward went Judas forth with his brethren, and 20 fought against the children of Esau in the land toward the south, where he smote Hebron, and the towns thereof, and pulled down the fortress of it, and burned the towers thereof round about.”

The Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus Flavius Book 12 Chapter 8 paragraph 6 states: 

“But Judas and his brethren did not leave off fighting with the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all sides, and took from them the city of Hebron, and demolished all its fortifications, and set all its towers on fire, and burnt the country of the foreigners, and the city Marissa.”
The Jewish War by Josephus Flavius Book IV Chapter 87, paragraph 7 states: 

“Simon, having thus, beyond expectation, penetrated into Idumaea without bloodshed, first of all, by a sudden attack, made himself master of the city of Hebron, where he possessed himself of a vast booty, exclusive of the large supplies of corn which he seized.”

“If we are to credit the inhabitants, Hebron is not only a town of greater antiquity than any in that country, but even than Memphis in Egypt, its years being computed at two thousand three hundred. They relate that Abram, the progenitor of the Jews, here fixed his abode after his departure from Mesopotamia, and that from hence his posterity went down into Egypt. Their monuments are still shown in that town, of the most beautiful marble, and of exquisite workmanship. At the distance of six furlongs, is pointed out an immense turpentine-tree, which, if tradition is to be believed, has continued there from the creation until the present time.” 

 

United States contact info:

http://www.hebronfund.org
1760 Ocean Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11230
718-677-6886
info@hebronfund.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hebronofficial
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/hebronfund

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewishcommunityofhebron/

Israeli contact info:
http://en.hebron.org.il/
02-996-5333
office@hebron.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hebron.machpela
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/hebronvideo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewishcommunityofhebron/

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES:

* The History of the Maccabees in Hebron
* Hanukkah in Hebron Spreads Unity – 2016
* Jewish Sage Ovadiah of Bartenura Sojourns in Hebron